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📚 Doing all sorts of things, the DataMade way
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Reconsider Netlify deployment process described in docs #364

Closed xmedr closed 1 month ago

xmedr commented 2 months ago

Documentation request

We recently followed our Netlify docs to deploy a map for the Artisan Grain Cooperative. This included using Business Cat to do the actual deploying, presumably so that all those deployments can live under a shared account and so anyone could deploy independently.

The process ended up being more involved than I think was intended. Business Cat needed to be added to the repo in question by the owner, then it needed to request access for netlify to be included, and in the end Derek deployed it on his own account instead. So I think it's worth re-evaluating that process. Why did we need Business Cat in the first place?

hancush commented 2 months ago

Business cat is a machine user that allows us to build and/or install dependencies from private GitHub repositories. Not necessary for every project, but is still useful, for instance, when an app is closed source. Using a machine account, rather than a personal account, guards against deployment failures if someone leaves DataMade or is otherwise removed from a private repository. This has been a huge headache in the past. https://github.com/datamade/deploy-a-site/blob/master/Private-dependencies.md

xmedr commented 1 month ago

@hancush Ah got it, thank you for this! So it seems like business cat's purpose was less for ease of independent deployment and more to make sure things don't break when someone leaves. That makes sense.

In that case, I've got a small pr open to update the Netlify docs with this for extra clarity. Would you have some time to review?